Prime Day Is Reportedly a 'Major' Source of Injury for Amazon Warehouse Workers Amazon Prime Day 2024 was held on July 16 and 17, and preliminary data shows shoppers were not afraid to spend on the sales.
By Emily Rella Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- A new U.S. Senate report alleges that Amazon Prime Day is a source of "major" injuries for warehouse workers.
- The report alleges that the company understaffs and overworks its employees during major shopping events.
- An Amazon spokesperson told CNBC the probe "misrepresents documents that are several years old and contained factual errors."
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
While millions of Amazon shoppers were delighted by discounts for Prime Day 2024 on July 16 and 17, a U.S. Senate report alleges the event is a "major" cause of injuries for Amazon warehouse workers, citing a year's worth of data observing working conditions.
The data showed that, during major Amazon shopping events including Prime Day and the holiday season, warehouses are understaffed and Amazon did not hit its hiring targets for high-volume periods. The report also alleges that during Prime Day in 2019, there were 10 injuries for every 100 workers, more than double the industry average for similar events.
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"Amazon continues to treat its workers as disposable and with complete contempt for their safety and wellbeing," U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said in the report. "That is unacceptable and that has got to change."
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told CNBC that the report was not accurate.
"It draws sweeping and inaccurate conclusions based on unverified anecdotes, and it misrepresents documents that are several years old and contained factual errors and faulty analysis," Nantel said, per the outlet. "For example, one of the false claims in the report implies that we're not adequately staffed for busy shopping periods."
Newly released data from Adobe Analytics found that July 16, the first day of the Amazon Prime Day event, was the biggest e-commerce day of 2024 so far, with over $7 billion in revenue. The preliminary data marks an 11.7% increase from the same time last year.
The high volume, however, led to the company setting "unsustainable productivity requirements and that serious injuries are common" during Prime Day, the probe said, citing former and current workers. One employee alleged that workers had back-to-back twelve-hour shifts with less than an eight-hour break in between.
"Prime Day and the holiday season are characterized by extremely high volume and intense pressure to work long hours and ignore safety guidelines," the probe states. "Through its investigation, the Committee uncovered evidence that Amazon fails to refer workers for outside medical care, which can affect whether an injury is considered 'recordable.'"
"This is not an acceptable set of practices from one of the richest companies in the world," the probe reads.
Amazon is coming off of a strong Q1 2024, with net sales reaching $143.3 billion, a 13% increase from the same period last year.
Related: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Reprimands Employees Resisting Return to Office Mandate
"It was a good start to the year across the business, and you can see that in both our customer experience improvements and financial results," Andy Jassy, Amazon President and CEO said in a release, at the time.
Amazon was up nearly 40% year over year as of Thursday morning.
